Yup. My late husband was disabled so shopping regularly was a pain so we bought a lot of stuff in bulk to save on shopping trips, and I basically converted the area under the stairs to a pantry so I could keep everything organized and not end up wasting money by forgetting something was crammed into the back corner of…

Ok, go to the Morehouse House at Kings Landing...bam, you're in a house in NB with a summer kitchen. Also my late great-grammy Boone's house in Aroostook has/had one, although I've never been in it - she always told me not to go in there or the snakes would get me, and since I was six years old or younger, I complied.…

I actually worked at Williams Sonoma store for the holidays years ago and I can tell you they busted their ass to get the fucking smell right in the store everyday-pumpkin/mulled wine/whatever the fuck it was but the best thing that happened was when a well known actor came in with his kitchen timer which he held…

No, nono, what you should do is use it at *every* meal with guests. Especially with terrible things in it like tomato and cauliflower soup.

Actually, about that so-called summer kitchen that used to be a nanny suite. When that cute little house was built, whoever lived there did not have a nanny, unless it was the one also called Grandma. And Grandma did not have a suite, she had a bedroom and went to the outhouse in the back yard like everyone else. …

Waffle irons and cupcake/muffin pans are the only exceptions to the item-specific pan of annoying, I think. Waffles are fundamentally different than pancakes (and if you've ever made waffle-specific batter and tried to cook it into pancakes, you will see that; pancakes require some significant thinning if you've just…

Re, the waffle iron thingy, the mini pancake pan . . .

Agreed that it's overpriced for something you can easily DIY, but it also comes with all the other crap that you need (the hat and veil, smoker, gloves, etc.) so it doesn't seem that bad to me. I'm really just lazy and want it all to come in one box!

Here's what you do: Pencil a nice, professional looking numeral "1" on the side of your white pumpkin albatross, find a little can of orange paint and a smallish brush, and voila: paint-by-number soup tureen kit! Gift to somebody you know who likes "projects". (Or who spends their time doing court-ordered occupational…

It's crazy to spend $500 on a bee box. Google 'bee box' and you will find instructions for how to build one yourself, and places where you can buy one for around $75. And local honey is wonderful for seasonal allergies.

you don't need a flour sifter. Get a metal mesh strainer with a handle, and you can sift, and drain other shit as well. Source: I own a bakery.

I actually took out a whole bit about how decorating is the exception because you often need specialized tools to achieve specific visual effects, because it was getting kind of muddled.

I will admit to finding all of this useless EXCEPT I desperately want that bee box they are peddling. I've wanted bees for years now, it seems like an oddly relaxing little hobby. Plus, I have terrible seasonal allergies and local honey is supposed to do wonders for that shit.

Seconding this. Our sieve is a large, durable, metal thing and gets used for flour sifting, draining vegetables, getting the chunkier bits out of home-made smoothies, just about anything.

You say this is how rich people spend their money? Au contraire my good man. Rich people do not become rich by spending their money foolishly. Rich people make their fortunes by convincing the middle class people they cannot live without this kind of hyper-priced schlock, even though they cannot afford it, and must…

I'll refute the flour sifter thing. Any fine-weave sieve will sift flour faster and with less carpel-tunnel than actual flour-sifters. Baking is all about combining things to get the desired chemical reaction; the only specialized tool you'll need is different pans for different shapes, and even then a baking sheet,…

I like pantries that are basically just small closets in the kitchen. I put my dishes, pots and pans, spices and other small kitchen things in my cabinets. All other canned goods and baking stuff goes in the fridge, the pantry, or the decorative air tight jars between my Keurig and my Kitchen Aid. The mister and I are…

Notes from Drew: Where else am I supposed to put my dirty cheese?

Pantries are stupid. Old ones are charming and work if your kitchen is tiny, and the sort of small-bedroom sized pantries in new-build houses accompany kitchens with more room than any reasonable person could require anyway. Large houses with specialized rooms produce redundancies that aren't just "wasteful", they're…

True story: Shortly after my wife and I got married, I got laid off. We had a little savings but the economy shit the bed (this was late 2007) and it took a while for me to find a job. Luckily, we had received a significant number of Williams-Sonoma gift cards as wedding gifts, since my wife registered there but no…